


Orbis non sufficit

by Ashmodai



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Gangs, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Lies, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Esteem Issues, Trust Issues, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings, criminal!Rhys, dad!Jack, or somewhat 'domestic', rhack - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 17:22:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4230399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashmodai/pseuds/Ashmodai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys has gotten as used to his life at the edge of the law as one can. Sure, a nice safe job wouldn't cut it nearly as much, financially speaking - at least that's what his partners in crime, Fiona and Sasha, kept telling him - but one way or another, that ship had sailed a long time ago. Now, it was just him and his little gang of friends, trying for a few easy bucks by getting their hands dirty while pulling the money out of equally shady, better-off indiviuals' pockets. Without a doubt, a quite dangerous business. But nothing he has encountered so far prepared Rhys for the new kind of danger he found himself in, when he unexpectedly crossed paths with a certain well known CEO.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Orbis non sufficit

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, my first story in the English language, and my contribution to Rhack. I'm not a native-speaker, but please, do let me know if you find anything amiss and want it changed, since I don't have a beta unfortunately. 
> 
> (Also, kudos to the brilliant AshesTheTerrible who gave me the inspiration to write about Dad!Jack. Go check them out if you haven't already. :3)

He should have known better. Eventually everyone's luck runs out, but saying it out loud – again – would have only meant jinxing it. And that certainly wasn't anything his literal partners in crime appreciated. Even after all these years he had no idea how Sasha, and especially Fiona, could be so confident in themselves and their con skills. Even when shit hit the fan, and they had to come up with something particularly reckless to drag each other's asses out of the fire, they'd simply laugh it off, perhaps remember to be more careful next time around and that was that. 

 

Right now, Rhys had no time to contemplate his friends' borderline suicidal antics however. He was too busy trying to get his own ass out of the fire – in a frighteningly literal way.

"Please don't kill me!“ Rhys breathlessly yelled at the outraged man on his tracks, never slowing down as he ran for his life.

"R-Really?!“ He heard from behind him, as the other guy dodged the trash cans, that Rhys kicked over in order to bring some distance between them. Unsuccessfully, as he had to admit. "That's what you're going with?! Because that's totally gonna change my mind, asswipe!“

"C'mon, man, pleeeeaaa-hee-hees!“ 

Okay, so retaining his dignity in the face of his own demise might have never been Rhys' shtick. But when being chased down the alleyway by a bulky berserk who wanted his head on a plate, begging pathetically was at least worth a shot. And to think that not even half an hour earlier that beefy jerk was chatting with him about artists of the postmodern era over a drink.

 

His role in their initial plan had been to distract the buff and weirdly literate head goon's boss who was an art collector at the party she was attending. Little did they know, when he entered the location with Fiona attached to his arm – both of them dressed up – that the lady herself would set her eyes on his friend instead. Naturally, they had to improvise from then on out and that led up to this disaster of an evening. To be fair though, they both had played it cool for a while, before shit went south and Fiona became too impatient and flustered by the cocky woman's advances. It had totally not been his fault. Even Sasha, who had managed to sneak into the location and was watching from afar, could vouch for that. 

The look on Fiona's face as the woman led her to another room, supposedly to show off her sought-after collection of jewelry, turned into that of one finding the holy grail. Whatever had happened in the other room while Beefy Guy was flashing his knowledge of art – it led up to his friend sneaking out and shooting him an incredibly nervous look, before she aimed straight for the door in a brisk pace. That definitely had been his sign of politely ending the conversation with Beefy Guy, and everything would have ended well, if it hadn't been for the lady barging back into the room, violently cursing and notably disheveled, screaming threats after Fiona who was gone by then. Rhys made a mental note to ask what the hell she had done to the woman but part of him was scared of the answer, judging by the woman's face.

While a few of the goons had approached to check if everything was alright with their boss, Beefy Guy quickly put two and two together, and recalled that Rhy's companion was the reason for his boss' agitation. 

 

That's when he made a run for it. 

 

Say what you will about him, but in case of a flight-or-fight situation, Rhys would always know which option he'd go with. Not that he would admit it, but running away from trouble had saved his ass often enough during his highschool years. The circumstances right now weren't any better, with it being a snowy late November night, still, he had to give it a shot. Unless he wanted to end up as dead meat or in prison or, knowing his own luck, probably both. 

But damn, was Beefy Guy relentless. At least he just had to deal with him, and not the cops which only emphasized his assumption that these guys probably had some skeletons of their own in their closets.

The wealthier part of the town they were in wasn't exactly familiar territory for the darkhaired man. Still, he would somehow be able to find his way back to the meeting point his partners in crime agreed on in case something like this happened and they got separated. If only he could get rid of the man after him somehow. 

Hopefully Sasha and Fiona had made a far luckier escape than him. 

 

Call it survival instinct, but when Rhys was faced with the somewhat tall brick wall after turning into another small alley, the only logical option in his panic-riddled mind was to climb it, regardless of what might have been on the other side. His pursuer was slowly running out of breath, throwing profanities in his direction. Using his mechanical arm allowed Rhys to heave his body on top of the wall with ease, where he now sat and glanced smugly at Beefy Guy one last time.

It would have been a truly triumphant moment, had his foot not caught on the wall when he tried to throw his other leg over it. Yelping loudly, the young man flailed his arms around as he lost his balance and came down the hillside on the other side of the wall like an avalanche. Not without faceplanting into the frozen ground when he finally came to a stop, of course.

"Fuck!“ The feeling of scraping the side of his face on the concrete, as well as the dizziness from nearly knocking himself out, were only eclipsed by the sharp pain in his right ankle when Rhys tried to scramble to his feet. Even worse, turning around he now saw the other one trying to climb the same wall as well. "Oh, for fuck's sake!“

Doing his best to hobble away in the ankle high snow, Rhys already imagined himself being beaten up to a bloody pulp. Or worse yet, being taken back to that guy's clearly pissed boss. 

His over-caring friends would so kill him, if those shady people weren't faster. And if they ever found him, because right now, he had no idea were he was to begin with. It sure looked like he had taken a shortcut into one of those wealthier neighborhoods, judging by the few imposing houses down the street. At least he didn't land in someone's backyard and triggered an alarm or anything. The last thing he needed was a record for attempted burglary.

Seeing his short life flash before his eyes, Rhys limped towards a group of trees before leaning his aching head against one. The dizziness and the nausea turned every further step into an agonizing chore.

This was it, he thought. He was done for, and all of that for a few quick bucks in their pockets. The darkhaired man leaned his back against the tree, and sunk to the ground, exhaustion from the chase and resignation making it impossible to move another inch. 

Granted, people lived here and he could've simply screamed for- 

 

"D-Do you need any help, sir...?“

Not for the first time that evening Rhys almost jumped out of his skin, shrieking very unmanly. 

The little girl he didn't notice until now gave the exact same reaction, and even the huge dog she had with her flinched for a second. 

"What the-“ Rhys groaned in pain, closing his eyes, and trying to keep his dinner down.

The girl came back to her senses pretty quickly however, and took a few tentative steps forward to get a better look at him, her gloved hands clutching the leash tightly to her chest. She couldn't have been older than twelve. Yet here she was, all alone, taking her dog for a walk at night.

"You're bleeding...“ She pointed out unsure of what to do or how to approach the stranger who clearly needed help. "Should I-“

"Listen, kid, I don't know who you are, but you need to get the hell away from here. Like now.“

It came out harsher than Rhys intended it to, but his pursuer had made it over the wall in the meantime and was currently skidding down the hillside, never letting him out of sight. That girl didn't need to be around to witness what Rhys expected to happen to him, once he finally caught up.

Unfortunately, she didn't budge and just followed his glance to the bulk of an angry man approaching them who had 'murder' written all over his face. 

Once he came within hearing range, Beefy Guy started to shout at her to "piss off“, along other threatening and vicious things. For someone so invested in the finer arts, he sure had a mouth to run.

Rhys was just about to repeat the warning in a much less intimidating way, but the blackhaired girl gave him a once over, before bending down and unleashing the tensed monstrosity of a dog standing next to her. 

Before he could utter another word, she shouted a command, aiming her finger at Beefy Guy, and the growling hound took off like a rocket after the other man. For a second his eyes widened like saucers as he turned on his heel, running straight back to where he came from. 

 

Rhys almost broke into a hysterical laughing fit from sheer relief and gratitude when he watched the other guy being chased away by the huge animal. Hopefully this was the last he'd seen of him.

The girl was now standing in front of him, yet Rhys found it hard to pay attention to her questions, as waves of relief and exhaustion washed through him. Being chased through the cold for so long had finally caught up with him, and taking a nap out here has never been more tempting since his head had collided with the frozen ground. 

Falling over to his side and resting his bruised cheek on the snowy underground, Rhys prepared for a little rest. Maybe the buzzing in his head would finally stop after that, just like his blurred vision and the dizziness. Maybe... it wouldn't, but he couldn't bring himself to care one bit just now. 

 

Not about the strange girl who was frantically calling for someone - her father? - in the distance, nor about the sounds of another loud person arriving at the scene, nor about the feeling of their big hands on his body.

 

And certainly not about the poor decisions and hardships in life which had all led to this particularly miserable night.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, so far nothing much happened, but that will change. Prepare for irregular updates (cause I suck at time management :D) and more of overly dramatic Rhys and his friends. Also, thanks for reading!


End file.
